Balanced Budget Amendment: What Do You Think?

With the debate over the American economy going hot and heavy as the country heads into the 2012 Presidential Election season, one question is getting a lot of attention.  Should a balanced budget amendment be added to the U.S. Constitution? 

That’s the question put to people in an exclusive survey conducted via Toluna.com.  Almost half the people surveyed thought it was a good idea.  Curiously, almost one-third of the respondents said they weren’t sure, which is more than the 17 percent of people who said they wouldn’t be supportive of such an amendment.

Don’t Spend What You Don’t Have

A balanced-budget amendment is a constitutional rule requiring that a state, or the national government, cannot spend more than it takes in with taxes.  As with any constitutional amendment, it would have to pass congress and be approved by the legislatures of two-thirds of the states to be added to the Constitution, not an easy hurdle to get over.

But, the debate is raging.  There’s a website, balancedbudget.com, where the Americans for a Balanced Budget Amendment seek to “tie the hands” of congress so it can’t spend more money than it takes in.

Balance of Power Issue?

On the other side of the coin, Walter Dellinger, assistant attorney general in the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, told congress that “the primary concern of the Department of Justice is that the proposed amendments (for a constitutional balanced budget amendment) fail to address the critical question of how [it] will be enforced.  Were a balanced budget amendment to be enforced by the courts, it would restructure the balance of power among the branches of government and could empower unelected judges to raise taxes or cut spending — fundamental policy decisions that judges are ill equipped to make.  If the amendment proves unenforceable, it would diminish respect for the Constitution and for the rule of law.”

Conservatives, Liberals Differ

And, while one might think that all conservatives are for such an amendment and all liberals are against it, that’s not necessarily the case.  Conservative writer James Ledbetter claims, “It just won’t work.”  On the other hand, several democratic Senators proposed a balanced budget amendment (albeit with some caveats attached).

Would such an amendment address and resolve any immediate fiscal and monetary issues facing the U.S.?  Not likely since passage of an amendment as it winds its way through state legislators could take years.

What would be an alternative to a balanced budget amendment?  Perhaps congress being more serious and showing the will to curb spending as well as prioritize the spending they do authorize?  What are the chances that will happen?  Do we need to take another public opinion poll to figure out what the answer to that question is?

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